The Mahasiddha and His Idiot Servant, by John Riley Perks

The impulse to believe the absurd when presented with the unknowable is called religion. Whether this is wise or unwise is the domain of doctrine. Once you understand someone's doctrine, you understand their rationale for believing the absurd. At that point, it may no longer seem absurd. You can get to both sides of this conondrum from here.

Re: The Mahasiddha and His Idiot Servant, by John Riley Perk

Postby admin » Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:53 pm

Chapter 10: Commentary

The Prince of Bhutan and his aide, Major Perks, made many journeys together. Most often the prince was dressed in an expensive three-piece suit and his aide in a military uniform tailored in the English tradition, although sometimes the Prince would wear a military uniform with the insignias of a field marshall. And, then again, we might be seen in naval uniforms, that of Admiral of the Fleet and his aide, a commodore.

It is rather puzzling to me that over all those years nobody questioned our authenticity or even asked for documentation. It was certainly true in a country like India that a uniform created an air of authority and as we walked through an airport the crowds of people would part before us. Other, genuine, military or naval officers would salute. I even remember an instance where we entered an elevator in a plush hotel in Delhi which was full of Russian naval officers. There was a moment's hesitation on both sides. Then they stood to attention and saluted our apparent superior rank and said in broken English, "British navy," even though the Admiral was clearly of Asian extraction.

There was something about wearing a uniform that inspired in me a sense of confidence and purpose, and I took great care in making sure that everything was polished and ship-shape. Many times, while traveling in America, people would ask to what military we belonged. Rinpoche would always answer, "Guess." Whatever they guessed is what we'd be, and it ranged from Israeli army to Taiwanese navy. It became so ordinary that I began to believe the whole thing myself. It was somewhat like being an actor in a very large play with a totally intuitive script.

What I really got hung up on was having to go to the cockpit and ask the pilots or senior stewardesses to radio ahead to some person like the queen or the prime minister or the emperor to cancel a tea or arrange a dinner party for the Prince. These tasks caught me between the illusion and the reality of the situation. It was not until much later that I realized the illusion not only of our game but of the whole game. From that point of view, one could see the actors working with a very predictable script.

Rinpoche talked often about the energy that a uniform created, not only in the human realm, but also in the realm of Drala energy, which became attracted to the quality of the uniform. (Drala is the god of war and patron of warlords and warriors in the Bon tradition, the pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet.) I began to see many mythologies entering the reality of what I thought was my existence. It created a very groundless situation in which I could be walking somewhat normally down a street and within seconds be engulfed in this groundlessness, so much so that I was not sure how to move my legs or how to walk.

The same kind of groundless situation manifested in circumstances where Rinpoche created what seemed to be a field of energy around himself, in which one was engulfed. It felt rather like being caught in a whirlwind of unexplained origin and then all of a sudden it would stop and leave you dazed and reeling in space. I would always look around because I was surprised that no one else but our immediate party seemed to notice that anything had happened.

On this particular journey that play of energy continued almost without a break other than when I would fall asleep from total exhaustion. There was no refuge place. I could not even take refuge in my confusion, because the energy created seemed to go beyond something that Rinpoche himself had organized. It seemed an immutable natural force, rather like he was stirring a pot which would continue to move under its own energy. I knew I was being shown something that I could not explain. And certainly, by this time, I had almost stopped panicking at every situation.

The hospital in Hong Kong was like a charnel ground. It had all the smells, sounds, and sights of the suffering of pain and death. The most shocking thing was to see His Holiness sitting in the middle of all of this, himself in the throes of pain and death, but sitting there smiling and being concerned with others around him. That was completely shocking. It was like entering a realm that I had never experienced or did not believe could exist on this planet. And yet, it was more real than any illusion of reality that I carried around with me.

With the death of His Holiness, I began to feel that I had to do something to perpetuate his and Rinpoche's world. I had no idea what to do or how to organize anything. I just had an overpowering feeling that I must do something to repay the enormous amount of love and compassion that had been given to me so generously and that I, out of ignorance and confusion, had almost taken for granted. Now there grew in my heart the determination never to give up on the visions, messages, experiences and love that I had received.
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Re: The Mahasiddha and His Idiot Servant, by John Riley Perk

Postby admin » Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:02 am

Chapter 11: Hello, Goodbye, Hello

DORJE TROLO TAKES NO PRISONERS. CLINGING TO ANY INVENTION IS CUT DOWN. "KEEP IT SIMPLE, LET THE PHENOMENA PLAY," IT SAYS.

With the death of His Holiness, our world changed. From this time on Rinpoche began to manifest completely as Dorje Trolo. Dorje Trolo is a deity who is extremely fierce, riding on a pregnant tigress surrounded by flames. In Rinpoche's words, "There is no room for interpretations. There is no room for making a home out of this. There is just spiritual energy going on that is real dynamite. If you distort it you are destroyed on the spot. If you are actually able to see it, then you are right there with it. It is ruthless. At the same time it is compassionate, because it has all this energy in it."

I realized that Rinpoche had manifested as one deity or another during most of our relationship together. Dealing with the manifestation of a deity is dealing with a mind arising from space -- not attached to whatever we think of as good or bad. There is no way to manage such energy. One cannot organize it or placate it in any way. It just exists like a natural force. I picked up on Trungpa Rinpoche's energy as Dorje Trolo and realized that "yes or no" was not an option.

I was also still hanging on to vestiges of my ego that Rinpoche consistently undermined, short-circuited, or directly commented on. The effect on a personal level was that Rinpoche, the Admiral of the Fleet, set fire to the conceptual ship I had built. There were no lifeboats, no life jackets, and no way to control the blaze. The ocean was vast and there were signs of storm everywhere. A red, nude sixteen-year-old girl, Vajrayogini, danced around pouring gasoline on the flames. If one helped by jumping into the fire, one felt open, vast, and blissful. If one went against the energy, it felt like being encased in solid, hot glass. The whole situation was very electric and basically uncontrollable.

I passionately felt that I owed a great debt to His Holiness and in order to repay it I would have to do something that would directly help all beings. But I also felt that I had no ability to do such a thing. Adding to the emotional squeeze of being close to the energy of Dorje Trolo was the fact that Rinpoche's physical body was beginning to deteriorate. He often threw up blood. I would hold him bending over the sink while the blood splashed red in the white sink. I felt as if it were coming from me. My body reacted to the spectacle by retching. Against all odds we tried to limit his intake of alcohol. But as Dorje Trolo, he just used more, seemingly as fuel for energy.

A teaching tour was planned for Europe and we flew to Ireland on the first leg of that trip. Dr. Mike and I were able to keep his consumption down during the flight, even as he kept remarking how he was looking forward to a real glass of Guinness once we had landed. On our arrival in Dublin we went to the lounge to buy our first pints. Dr. Mike, dressed in his best clean uniform, sat opposite Dorje Trolo. As ordered, I served Dorje Trolo a large glass. of fresh Guinness. Holding it up he toasted with the slogan, "Guinness is good for you!" and downed the entire beer in one gulp. Dr. Mike and I exchanged glances of concern. Everything seemed fine until, suddenly, Dorje Trolo opened his mouth wide and expelled a geyser of Guinness all over Dr. Mike.

"Thanks a lot, Rinpoche," said Dr. Mike.

"Must be a blessing," I joked.

"Next time you can get blessed," he retorted. Off Dr. Mike went to the men's room to clean up.

Dorje Trolo just growled, "Give me another."

I did as he ordered, but stayed out of range of any further blessings.

We visited Newgrange, the prehistoric Irish mound. We made our way through its snake-like passage into the central chamber. Someone asked, "Do you feel any presence here, Rinpoche?" He looked at me, but I declined to offer an answer. He waited and, still looking at me, answered, "I guess not." During our travels, there was quite a bit of talk about Celtic influence and culture. I decided to remain silent, mainly because I was wary of getting caught up in another crazy scheme. Of course, I was fighting a losing battle. During another conversation in a pub someone asked about the Trungpa lineage and how it had begun.

"Well," Rinpoche began, "there were three idiots sitting by a river. One of them started the Trungpa lineage." There was a pause, then turning his eyes on me Rinpoche said pointedly, "You're an idiot, Johnny. Why don't you start a lineage?"

"Thanks a lot, Rinpoche," I replied.

"It must be a blessing!" piped up Dr. Mike.

I looked at him coolly as I went off to the men's room.

Behind me Dorje Trolo growled, "Give me another Guinness," passing the empty glass.

His Holiness's body had been returned to the monastery in Sikkim. Rinpoche announced that we would be going to India and then to Sikkim for a prefuneral visit.

"Why," I asked, "are we going to visit before the funeral?" It just didn't make any sense to me.

"It's an obligation I have," replied Rinpoche.

''An obligation?" I questioned.

"Yes," came the reply. "The lineage."

I still did not understand, hut was excited to be going to India and went off to pack.

There were about fifteen in our group and another five traveling with the Regent. We flew Air India from London. On this flight Rinpoche sat with the Regent in first class and I was seated in the rear with the other sangha members. I felt quite alone and resentful, as it had always been my custom to sit with Rinpoche on these flights. I was becoming more and more upset when I noticed a stewardess come down the aisle bearing a tray with a bottle of wine and a glass.

"Major Perks?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied, expecting almost anything.

"Mr. Mukpo in first class says you should drink this," she said, setting down the tray and pouring the wine into the empty glass. I was in love again!

We landed in the New Delhi airport and I went up to first class to help Rinpoche off the plane. The crew opened the door and Rinpoche peered out. "Look, Johnny," he exclaimed excitedly, "India!" Hot air rushed over me, carrying with it the sweat and excrement of a million bodies.

"Wow," was all I could manage as my body wilted and I grew faint. Rinpoche placed his hand on my elbow to steady me. He seemed delighted to be in India.

Once we were at the hotel he told me to put on my naval uni­form. He wanted to take me to the Red Fort where he used to buy desserts. "They are quite delicious." It was dose to 10 p.m. and dark by the time the taxi driver let us out at the Red Fort. I was sweating in my wool naval uniform while Rinpoche looked quite comfortable in his light grey suit. Rinpoche said a few last words of instructions in Hindi to the driver to have him wait for us.

We found the stall in the crowded market. Rinpoche ordered the desserts and asked me to wait for them to be prepared. I stood by the stall, trying to isolate myself from the teeming crowd flowing by. The smiling vendor eventually handed me the tray of round sugar balls and I turned to offer them to Rinpoche. He was not there! Not only was he nowhere in sight, the taxi was gone also! I looked through and across the billions of bodies moving like a human river and that old familiar panic rose in my breast.

Here I was, a tall white man in a foreign naval uniform in a sea of Indians. I couldn't speak a single word of Hindi. I couldn't even remember which hotel we were staying at. A few Indians were starting to look at me with curiosity, and there was still no Rinpoche. I felt in my pocket. I had a few English pounds in my wallet. In desperation I started to walk, without any sense of direction. Then a taxi pulled up beside me and Rinpoche rolled down the window and leaned his head out.

"Great, Johnny," he said, smiling broadly. "You have the dessert." He opened the door and I jumped in. As we ate the sticky dough balls in the backseat he asked, "Did you think we would leave you?"

"Yes," I answered a bit sullenly. "What would I have done?"

"Why, you could have started a dharma center," he replied with a laugh.

Dorje Trolo is back again, I thought to myself.

"It never went away," said Rinpoche, looking at me directly.

We took another flight to the foot of the mountains and then a long eight-hour taxi ride over winding dirt roads through jungles and up into the hills. Monkeys played by the dusty tracks. It was late at night before we finally arrived at the small hotel in Gantok. Some in our party were sick from the potent combination of Indian food and the dizzying ride. I felt strangely disconnected. I sensed a change was in the atmosphere surrounding Rinpoche.

This feeling had grown in me since the death of His Holiness, coupled with Rinpoche's recurring pronouncements of his own imminent demise. The awful impermanence that I could accept in concept but not in its stark reality was forcing my mind to freeze as it looked for a way out. To be in love is painful. To be in unconditional love with the ever-changing impermanence, always saying hello and then goodbye, always being in transformation, was more than I could bear any longer.

To protect myself I retreated to the safety of whatever illusion John Perks was. After all, I had done this throughout my life -­ returned to the safety of self. When Peter was asked if he knew Christ, he denied the fact to save himself. Now that Dorje Trolo was pushing me out into the open I was running for shelter into myself. Even my intellectual compassion for others went out like a match in a windstorm. I became sick and lay in the small, unheated, bare hotel room for three days, throwing up bile and not eating.

Rinpoche visited but it offered little solace. He himself was throwing up blood. It didn't help that he would drink chang, the fermented barley beer, or, even worse, the Sikkimese brandy that tasted like yellow turpentine. I wanted to save myself. He was involved in showing the way, willing to continue beyond what I saw as the end, even to the end of impermanence. I had some understanding but no realization, so like Peter I said "I don't know him." The Regent suggested that I go live in Nova Scotia, that I had served enough. This was at least a way out for me and I mentioned the idea to Rinpoche, who was noncommittal, just growling, "We will see."

The Indian ambassador to Sikkim visited Rinpoche. He was dressed like a character out of a Victorian novel, with a cape and an ivory-handled walking stick. He flourished a lace handkerchief with waves of the hand to accent his points of rhetoric during his conversation.

Rinpoche spoke to him in English. "I'm thinking of leaving my attendant here to start a dharma group."

The ambassador looked at me. I was horrified and before he. could speak I burst out with, "No, no it's just Rinpoche's joke."

To my alarm the ambassador said, "You would be most welcome."

I was silent and sullen when we left Gantok. On the long drive back I sat in the rear seat with Rinpoche for the first four hours. He was drinking and rolling around saying, "We should stay in India and help the people. You should stay here." The very thought paralyzed me with fear. He grabbed my case and took out our passports and the money. "Here," he said matter-of-factly, "we don't need these any more." With that, he threw everything, money and all, out of the car window as we sped along. Then he reached for the airline tickets, which I had snatched from his hand. I yelled to the driver to stop and we screeched to a halt on the dusty road. I jumped out and waved down the other cars in the party. We searched the roadside and finally found the passports. The money, about three hundred dollars' worth, had blown out over the ledge to a river that flowed below. I went back to the car where Rinpoche had returned to drinking.

"I'm really worried about you, Sir," I announced, feigning concern.

He looked at me for some time and then said deliberately, ''And I am worried about you."

I needed to save myself and asked Carl to take my place in the backseat with Rinpoche. I retreated to Carl's car. Later I asked Carl how Rinpoche behaved for the rest of the ride.

"Fine," was his tired answer.

"Did he say anything?" I asked, guilty about my desertion of post.

"Oh, yes," said Carl. "He made a point of saying over and over again, 'When students get fat like big ticks you have to pop them out into space'."

"Great," I thought, "fucking great."

During the long return to Boulder I became immersed in my own thoughts about moving to Nova Scotia. I was ready for almost anything different and I entertained numerous plans of escape. Halfheartedly I returned to the duties of the Court.

BACK IN BOULDER THERE WAS a lady whom Rinpoche loved very much. There was also a young man who had never slept with a woman. Both of these people were very close students of Rinpoche. In talking, Rinpoche expressed his interest in having this young man's first sexual encounter be a very positive one. It seemed to me quite normal when he proposed that his own con­sort spend the night with the young man. So it was arranged and came to pass. The following day I went into Rinpoche's bedroom to find him sitting on the edge of the bed, his head hung down. Sensing he might be sick, I inquired gently if everything was all right. I put my hand on his shoulder and his body lacked any energy or vitality. I looked into his face and saw that he had been crying, tears still rolling silently down his cheeks. Very concerned, I asked him what was the matter. He turned his deep brown watery eyes upon me and quietly said, "They spent the night together."

"But, Sir," I said in mild protest, "you set it up like that." He did not answer, but the tears continued. I managed to get him dressed, his body limp and unresponsive. He would not eat or drink. It was all tears. I called Michael Root, who lived close by, and explained that Rinpoche seemed brokenhearted and that I could not understand why, since he himself had suggested the rendezvous. Acting upon Michael's suggestion I drove Rinpoche over to Michael's house where we finally managed to give him a warm bath, washing his back with a sponge. Rinpoche still would not eat or even have his usual glass of sake.

Following a phone call Michael reported that the young couple had arrived back at the Court. Hearing that, Rinpoche perked up and said, "We must welcome them." Life returned to his body. He drank his waiting glass of sake and we drove back to the Court to prepare a welcoming meal. Rinpoche played the kind and gracious host to his lover and the young man. I did not fully realize at the time his enormous pain. In an act of compassion and kindness he gave up someone with whom he was truly in love to benefit another person. The fact was that he loved both of them and for their hap­ piness unhesitatingly took upon himself the resulting pain.

My plans for moving to Nova Scotia proceeded. Some friends purchased an inn on the shore of the Bay of Fundy which I was to run as innkeeper. Rinpoche hosted a going away party for us at the Court. He gave a toast to "Johnny, the Pioneer" who was going to Nova Scotia to set up the Court and the Kingdom all by himself. I was happy to be going and sad to be leaving.

In Nova Scotia I had to deal with the reality of the poor economic prospect of running an inn in a remote area far from the tourist routes. While others were successful at running small businesses I was not, and earning a living became quite a struggle. During this time I was invited by the San Francisco and Los Angeles dharmadhatus to come and give talks on "The Kalapa Court." A tour was planned where I would start in Los Angeles and then proceed to San Francisco. Afterwards, I would go on to Boulder to be in attendance to Rinpoche at the Sakyong Abhisheka that Khyentse Rinpoche was to give to Rinpoche. Then I would go on to the military encampment before returning to Nova Scotia.

My first performance in Los Angeles went fairly smoothly but in San Francisco I began to have visions. The first one occurred while I was shopping for a pair of Highland dancing shoes to wear with my kilt. I began to notice points of light sparkling over everything. I put on my sunglasses but they were still there. I relaxed and began to enjoy the display while I waited for my companions to finish their meanderings. I sat down on a bench with a friend.

As we sit in silence a wind begins to blow around us in a circle, coming from a great blue lake off in the distance. As if we are looking at a movie screen, images of people climbing a mist-­shrouded mountain appear. They are dressed in ancient clothing and carrying weapons: bows and swords. They are involved in some sort of struggle against materialism. I recognize myself as "Dancer at the Gates of Dawn." Voices give messages. A crystal city of light appears across a great ocean and immense longing overcomes me. Other voices speak and in a flash I understand the whole of the Vajrayogini Sadhana. I understand that I have completely invented everything: my persona, my life, the pain, the pleasure, the good, the bad. The whole thing has been an illusion, something I have made up, completely fiction. The "I" never existed except in the self-created ghost. Then, suddenly, the vision ends and I am again sitting on the bench. The wind stops also.

I turned to my friend and said, "What the fuck was that?" Tears were streaming down her face.

She said, "I saw you with two women dressed in red. One was quite old and one was quite young and they were standing right next to you. The whole thing seemed so loving I just started to cry."

What was immediate was the realization that I had caused immense pain to others through the propagation of my projection of myself. This self had been formed in the interaction of birth, mother, father, family, friends, and environment. Included in this realization was the painful truth that this "I" had done and would do anything to maintain the facade of that solid body of illusion. It would love, hate, fight, lie, flatter, conceal, be joyful, feign compassion, or anything else to confirm its existence. I was stunned by my recognition of this-felt not on an intellectual level but as total realization beyond logic.

Over the next few days, unexpectedly, other visions would spontaneously create displays. Many were of past life situations. These were particularly painful to experience because the amount of suffering was condensed. It was like eating or taking into one's body both the visual and emotional experience of a Nazi death camp. When the visions seemed to be unending I became con­cerned that I was indeed going crazy. I had no control over these visionary events and my few attempts to relate them to my friends brought only alarm and concern to their faces: In secret places I cried a lot. I was alarmed at this world I had entered, in which I had no control or direction and no role except as a spectator.

I followed my original itinerary and traveled to the military encampment in Colorado. I went as the Lord Chamberlain Dapon, Sir John Perks, knowing there was nothing that existed in any reality. I was more than pleased to see Rinpoche, to whom I related the entire experience, along with the voice messages that were addressed to him. I asked him directly, "Doesn't one have to be careful when traveling in this world?"

He replied, "No, being careful is hanging on. Just let go." He continued, "The visions are our connection, your connection to me and the lineage."

"People think I am going crazy," I protested.

"Johnny," he said, "some people will love what you do. Others will hate what you do and others couldn't care less. Don't pay any attention to any of it."

It was shocking to see the illusion of the reality of myself. While this had a lasting effect, I still experienced periods of my past reality. That is, I would still become attached to the reality of my ego for periods of time. For years Rinpoche had often asked me about other people in the sangha and how they were doing. In the beginning I would just say "Oh, fine." By saying that, I was of course also saying that I wasn't willing to get involved in the work of finding out what was truly happening to others. When Rinpoche's queries continued I realized I had to start to find out how people were faring and what was going on in their lives. That meant I had to have a relationship with someone else other than myself. Our talks about different people and their emotional and domestic situations expanded into having me act directly. I started to pay attention to others and I started to give up the safety net of self. My ability to do this was directly influenced by my revelation about the insubstantiality of my own self.

For the next few days I had no idea what to think or expect. At encampment I was not assigned any specific role and was left to myself for most of the month. The last event was to be a skirmish, the idea for which had in some strange way evolved from a story I had told Rinpoche.

In the Second World War my father was in the Home Guard, which was a British military organization made up of men who were either too old or too young to be in the regular service. He and his company staged a mock battle in the streets of Sidcup, where they "fought" a detachment of the Royal West Kents. Both sides threw bags of chalk as ammunition and anyone who was hit was out of the game.

Rinpoche had developed this "game" into a fine art at the Shambhala military encampments. During this particular skirmish messengers ran to and fro across the battlefield, passing orders from Rinpoche himself to both of the opposing groups. Rinpoche, attired in his field marshall's uniform, sat under an awning high up in the pine fields next to a large outcropping of stones. The runners would run up to Rinpoche, bow, and report information concerning the troop movements. Rinpoche would give orders to be relayed back to each side. To me, standing next to him, the highland fields felt very vast. It rained on us for a short time and out of the thunderstorm a rainbow appeared. Everything was an extraordinary display, yet normal. Another messenger approached and Rinpoche turned his head toward me. I bent down to listen to his instructions. He said, "Wilcox should win." Without comment I took over the command, issuing orders to the messengers from that point forward. Wilcox's group did win and it all happened very precisely.

After the encampment Rinpoche returned to Boulder and I returned to my faltering attempts at inn-keeping in Nova Scotia. Some months later he came for a visit. A group of us were sitting around him drinking Scotch and sake. We were dressed splendidly in Scottish kilts, jackets, sporrans, shoes, and the socks with red swatches. I was thinking about the Celtic issue and how Rinpoche continually brought up the idea that he wanted me to do something with Celtic people. Every time, I had brushed it off as a trick Rinpoche was trying to play on me. Suddenly, in the midst of my reverie, he jumped up, pointed at me, and said, "That's it!"

In confusion at having my train of thought cut through in that way I said, "You mean we should all wear kilts?"

"No," he prompted, "larger, bigger vision."

I thought of the largest thing I could. "Lineage," I said. He nodded, smiled, and sat down. He intended to stay longer at our inn but was overtaken by sickness and so returned to Halifax and then to Boulder.
Later, I realized that he had picked the Celtic Buddhist lineage for me to work on. It was not something I would have picked for myself. But somehow, quite skillfully, he had nailed me to a course of action which I had no choice but to follow. It was like holding a hot potato that I couldn't drop. I still held on to aspirations of sitting up high on a throne and being a famous teacher -- perhaps seeing people swoon at the pearls of wisdom that dropped from my lips. I had no idea then of the real work and relationships and concern for people that one is required to maintain in order to teach. Teaching is an experiential learning relationship that involves teacher and student -- each learning from the other. I had no idea about taking on the pain of others. All of this I was to learn later on.

During my months of living in Nova Scotia I had begun to act like a teacher, in a puffed-up sort of way. I liked the idea of guruhood, being served and cared for by one's students. Not that I had any students of my own! But that did not prevent me from beginning to create the illusion and mystique of being a guru. Because of this I received a letter from the Vajradhatu administration telling me to cool it and instructing me to pay attention to my meditative practice. It also informed me that I would no longer be involved in Court functions. I felt that I had been fired, sacked, kicked out. I traveled to Boulder to see Rinpoche. My life, my marriage, my job, and my station in life were all in disarray. In deep distress I cried, "What shall I do?"

Rinpoche looked me over and said, "You should become a servant."

I was shocked. Me? An important person relegated to servitude? "How?" I sputtered.

He repeated very clearly, "You should go out on your own and become a servant."

"But, Rinpoche," I protested, "I am the center of your life, and you are the center of my life."

He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I adore you forever." I had an anguished feeling that he was saying goodbye. And walking away from the Court the old familiar cloud of aloneness settled over me.

In a numb daze I left Nova Scotia for Boston and found a job as a butler to a widowed lady on Beacon Hill. My family's bedroom window in the back of the apartment faced a brick wall only twenty feet away. That symbolized how I felt -- a solid structure facing me in my search for enlightenment. Working for ordinary people with their likes and dislikes was challenging, and my own resentments made things even more difficult.

I longed to be back at the Court and I telephoned Rinpoche several times requesting to be allowed to return. Finally, he sent a message to me via a sangha member that he wanted me to come to encampment as an ordinary trainee. I was shocked and upset by the news. I, who had been a director, a somebody, was being asked to be a nobody, nonexistent, and banished from the physical presence of my teacher. It was so painful I developed psoriasis with oozing sores all over my body. Even terminating my life seemed like a useless repetitive endeavor with no release. At last, Rinpoche called me himself and said, "Come home Johnny."

I rushed to move back to Boulder. Within a few weeks I had set myself up with a job in Denver and rushed to the Court, only to find I had been assigned a job as a trainee in service. I was utterly beside myself and spoke to Rinpoche in person about my anguish. He said clearly, "You have to go out and be on your own." I finally got the point and dejectedly turned to leave. As I reached the door he reminded me, "Keep it simple. Let the phenomena play." I returned to Boston and found a new job as manager of one of the Harvard clubs. I rented a house in the suburbs and started life all over again with my wife and son.

Within the year, news reached me that Rinpoche's physical health was deteriorating rapidly and I flew to Halifax to see him. By then he was in the hospital. He raised his arm in a fist salute as I entered the room but did not speak. After he was released from the hospital I returned to Boston, but within weeks I received an urgent call to return to Halifax. I flew in on a small Air Canada aircraft, which landed at the Halifax airport at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, April 4, 1987. As the wheels of the aircraft touched the runway I sang under my breath the Shambhala anthem. After passing through customs I was met by a friend. I asked him, "How's Rinpoche?" He replied tearfully that he had just been on the phone to the hospital and Rinpoche had died fifteen minutes ago.

We went to the Court where his body was already dressed and seated on a throne. He had his glasses on. As I looked up at him I was overwhelmed by the energy of his presence. My heart rushed toward him and I was so elated to see him it did not actually occur to me that he was dead. It wasn't until hours later that my aloneness hit me. I felt like an iceberg in a vast ocean. It was my innate habit when presented with traumatic events to shield myself from the pain at the very moment of the trauma. That habit was also destined to become obsolete.

Then I dreamt he had played a trick on all of us and was hiding out somewhere and was not really dead. It. was as if he had shown us all a glimpse of an enlightened world within which we could all exist. And then he had left and we remained with an intense yearning to live in such a world. I was again having to give up personal attainment, personal enlightenment -- which was meaningless anyhow because there was no personal enlightenment. Enlightenment had to benefit all beings. Out of that intense yearning and sadness, one had to begin again to establish an enlightened world -- the world that Trungpa Rinpoche had shown us.

Many students expressed relief at the final death of Trungpa Rinpoche. I was somewhat surprised at this. However, it was understandable from some point of view because Rinpoche did not let anyone off the hook during the last years before his death. And the intensity of the attacks on one's personal ego and reference points was constant and enormously personally traumatic. Ironically, his death changed nothing, because the very thought of him would bring back the intensity of his teachings. Nobody was going anywhere because there was nowhere to go back to -­ unless, of course, one was able to opt out of one's devotion and commitment by becoming engrossed in the material world or thinking that the teachings are based on personality and self­-aggrandizement.

Khyentse Rinpoche came to help the sangha and I was able to speak to him. I asked him about the visions I still continued to have. "Oh, that," he said. "I do that between 2:00 and 4:00 every afternoon." I laughed and was relieved. He had made it ordinary for me.

A few days later I was waiting to bid Khyentse farewell as he left to return to India. It was a drizzly, foggy Nova Scotia day. I was part of a large crowd of students on the street across from his house. Harold, the monk, stood next to me. Together we watched as Khyentse Rinpoche came out of the house, large and brilliant like the sun and radiating warmth. A host of attendants fussed about him. Harold looked at me and said, "You used to be such a part of that inner circle. Do you miss it?" A sense of desolation swept over me as I watched Khyentse Rinpoche waving from his departing car. Then I felt joy. I said to Harold, "Happy and sad." He nodded in understanding.
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Re: The Mahasiddha and His Idiot Servant, by John Riley Perk

Postby admin » Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:09 am

Chapter 11: Commentary

During this time, when not attending to Rinpoche or matters of the Court, I was practicing the "meditation sadhana of the Glorious Coemergent Mother Vajrayogini." It was integrated in my everyday life like the sadhana had never begun nor ever ended. With Rinpoche throwing up red blood into the white sink, white on the outside, red on the inside, it was vast and spacious. In the middle of it is a lotus, corpse, and sun disk seat.

Look, look at your own mind.
Mind itself never existed.
This nonexistent mind
Is the great wonder of the variety of appearance.
Mind is merely appearance.
That mind of all sentient beings
Is the wisdom of great bliss,
Incomprehensible complete non-thought,
Appearing in the nature of that luminosity
For the desires of many sentient beings,
A variety of skillful means are sown.
By a variety of illusory activities
The warrior behaves like a lion,
Attaining the incomprehensible state.
This is the blessing of the Jetsun Mother.
The lineage gurus are like a variety of jewels
For the benefit of the worthy ones.


I repeated those lines over and over many times, having no realization of what they meant. But the series of visions in California dissolved my kleshas,39 enabling me to realize the blessings of the Jetsun Mother and the lineage gurus on a very experiential level Everything fell away at one point, even anything that I had understood about what was called Buddhism. The experience was so stunning that I became frozen, rather like having seen the head of Medusa. Rinpoche pointed this out to me. I longed for the comfort of just being in his company. I longed for our conversation without words. Like the moon, I longed to be in the warmth of the sun. I could teach, but I didn't know anything.

At this point, I think I could have stopped and become just a Pratyekabuddha person -- that is, someone who seeks enlightenment just for himself. Not that I was enlightened, but the path was continuing. What kept me from taking that route was the total generosity and unconditional love I had been given by my teachers, Trungpa Rinpoche, Khyentse Rinpoche, and His Holiness, Karmapa. My com­passion was very primitive and reserved for only a few.

Although it was shocking at the time, I later appreciated Rinpoche's wisdom in telling me to go out on my own and to become a servant. This was the training I received in how to serve others. Through many trials and tribulations I learned from the people and beings that I served how to make the offerings that they wanted, not the offerings that I wanted to give them. Thus I began to have more compassion for the whole situation -- any situation.

Sometimes people would ask me questions about what had happened to me. When I began to explain, I found myself explaining experiences in Buddhist terms, because that's what I had been taught. It was the only explanation that made any sense in relationship to the story. So Buddhism returned as a path. I had attended seven of the twelve or so three-month seminaries that Rinpoche had given. But because of my ignorance and confusion, I retained little or no knowledge of the teachings. So for the next ten years after Rinpoche's death, I read and reread all the seminary transcripts. I also studied and read many other related Buddhist texts. In the beginning, I advanced very slowly in my knowledge and understanding. But I would go over them again and again. Then, gradually, I found I could understand some of the concepts.

When I became angry, depressed, disillusioned, confused, or fearful of how to proceed, my teachers were always there in my thoughts and in my dreams. It was as if we had never parted. And through them I found the compassion that I had so much wanted to give to others and that had eluded me for so long.

Now I am an old man with long white hair and I walk with a slight limp, sometimes supported by a wooden cane. My personal secretary, who is also a student of mine, is typing this manuscript on a computer. we are sitting together in a small cottage overlooking Merrymeeting Bay, in the state of Maine. From within emptiness, in the sky before us, innumerable forms of the chief Jetsunma and her retinue descend. As they dissolve into the top of her head, joy and power increase. From their speech comes a garland of consonant mantras, red and white. As they dissolve into her throat, energy and power increase. From their heart comes a stream of bodhichita, of the nature of the five wisdoms. As it dissolves into her heart, the wisdom of bliss and emptiness is born in her being. The devis dissolve each into each and they become inseparable. That is the inner offering. Then in the supreme palace of mahamudra there resides bodhisattva Caryamati. That is only a name, only a sign, mere sophistry. just as all dharmas have no reality, my very mind is groundless, rootless, beyond the extremes of conditions. Although many things occur, realize the appearance and mind as the nondual ungraspable dharmakaya. That is a description of the indescribable fourth abhisheka.40

There is a world beyond the one our projections and habitual patterns manifest. we act rather like the dog with the blindfold. Rinpoche always said that if the blindfold were to be removed too suddenly one would die of a heart attack. The sight of the real world, the total groundlessness and spaciousness, would cause such instant, terrifying fear that our hearts would burst. There is still even in this dark age, an enlightened lineage of beings and you are being invited. to join with them. Perhaps you will have to surrender some of your stuff-whatever you've collected. But if you have within you the desire to explore, to see, to hear, to taste, or smell to experience the universe, then you should be like a patient with an incurable disease and seek a teacher to become your doctor. Please, do not waste a minute to begin that endeavor.

There are many groups of people that form around the idea of studying the Buddhist teachings without a teacher. This is rather like going to a restaurant and attempting to eat the menu. I realize that it is done with the best of intentions, but still the possibility of having your trip exposed or transformed without a teacher is at best zero. There is no possibility of lineage here, which is the continuum of the heart of the Buddha. From a morality point of view one could become a Brahmin, or follower of the rule, which is not the ultimate point of the Buddhist teachings.  

_______________

Notes:

39 Kleshas are habitual patterns or neurotic clingings.

40 From the sadhana of Vajrayogini.
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Re: The Mahasiddha and His Idiot Servant, by John Riley Perk

Postby admin » Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:50 am

Afterword

OUT OF THE CELTIC SLIME, LOTUS SEEDS GROW AND BLOSSOM. THE BUDDHA HOLDS UP A FLOWER AND SOMEBODY SMILES. PURE DHARMA WITHOUT CREDENTIALS THEN ARISES.

The following days were somewhat like being in a slow-moving dream world where the boundaries between being awake and being asleep were quite fuzzy. Rinpoche's body was moved from Halifax to Karme Choling in Vermont, where it was kept in a casket of salt until the day of his cremation on May 26 of that same year. Hundreds, if not thousands, of his students were present. Personally, I still remained in a quasi-dream-like state. I wore my Shambhala naval uniform and I remember thinking my hair was too long.

During the cremation ceremony a rainbow formed around the sun. There were other lights that flashed in the overcast sky. There was cannon fire, bagpipe music, and Tibetan horns. I kept repeating to myself, It is over. But I could not formulate what "it" was that was over. Nothing seemed to have changed very much. Somehow, the ghost of Rinpoche was inside me and there was no thought of separation. Looking back, one might say I was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. But I don't remember being all that stressed out. It was just that Rinpoche was in my mind all the time, wherever I was or whatever I did.

"The foundation of samaya41 is communication of the heart," Rinpoche would say. It seems that there has to be some heart connection with one's teacher. I remember my first meeting with Rinpoche. I felt a tremendous feeling of love just being in his presence. I don't know whether this was coming from him or from me or whether it just existed. The fact is that there was some undeniable connection which caused an openness of the heart essence. During my years with him, that connection remained as the ground even though my mind wandered from doubt to pissed-off-ness to anger. Those reactions were because I wanted to possess the teacher or to make logic out of his teachings.

While I worked with Rinpoche, his method was to focus my mind by having me pay attention to the myriad details of both the household in which we lived and his personal service. Every task had to be done in a specific way, whether it was making the bed, putting a new toilet roll in the bathroom, putting the exact amount of toothpaste on his toothbrush, combing or brushing his hair in a certain manner, handing him items, brushing his shoes, dressing him, cooking his meals, packing his clothes, or driving the car. Even answering his questions about what was happening in the mandala around him, or at least my perception of it, needed to be done exactly. I was in a very precise world.

Within that framework things could expand. Perception opened. Rather than organizing my world, the world existed and was sending messages. A plant doesn't organize the sun to send rays for it to grow, but nevertheless it receives the rays and it grows. It's quite a simple arrangement. There is some kind of openness beyond the obstacle of personal projection. Within that openness messages can be received.

My attempts to find some habitual pattern that I could count on in Rinpoche were all failures. Working with his mind was experiencing basic unconditioned space. At first this greatly alarmed me because I had no idea of how he managed to attain such a state. Through practice, study, and being his personal attendant I began to have flashes of realization that indicated my basic mind was the same as his.

Rinpoche rarely told me what to do concerning my relation­ships with others. However, he implied that I should relate to basic goodness. Since I was extremely sensitive to even the smallest comment he would make I didn't have to puzzle over queries. There arose in me a tremendous sense of longing which sometimes I felt could be satisfied by loving another. But my loving was too attached to my aloneness. I began to see how the interrelatedness of actions created a universe, and at times I experienced openness, softness, and the tremendous bliss of being free from habitual grasping.

People felt that I was crazy. Actually "crazy John Perks" became a joke. But since John Perks was a fabrication, then "just craziness" seemed to operate. It operated from the ground of not really having to do anything. Somehow the whole universe managed quite well without my consistent projection. I'm not sure how it managed to do this since I had previously thought I was the creator.

All the stories that I have written concerning my association with Rinpoche show that he was consistently undermining my reality and showing me that "form is emptiness and emptiness is no other than form."42 Sometimes I think that while my mind did not actually get it one hundred percent on the spot, my body retained the memory. And my heart was such that it could not give up or, for that matter, could not go back on itself. The heart was intermixed with the space of dharma, which was his mind.

After Rinpoche's death I traveled to New York City where I was interviewed and offered employment as a butler to Bill Cosby and his family. During my work for the Cosby family, thoughts of Celtic Buddhism still seemed quite remote and somewhat silly. I had images of being put ashore on some Celtic island, alone, wearing robes, and told to start a Celtic Buddhist center. Not knowing anyone or even able to speak the local language, this seemed to be a ridiculous project.

One day, while riding on the 5th Avenue bus, I looked down and saw a pair of black ebony hands with ivory nails. I realized at once that these were the hands of Maitreya Buddha, even though they were attached to the body of a middle-aged African­-American woman. I did not want to leave the bus and continued to look at her hands until she got off at 168th Street.

I began to see Buddha in other people at different times of day and night. This was like being haunted and would occur whenever I was just sitting or not involved in any activity. During nighttimes I continually had dreams of Trungpa Rinpoche, mostly that he was not dead but was hiding out with some other sangha in an unknown location.

Around this time, it was revealed to the sangha that the Vajra Regent, Osel Tendzin, had contracted AIDS several years prior and it had been kept a secret from the community. He had also had multiple partners and sexual relationships. The issues and feelings of deception caused tremendous emotional splits in the community. The political upheavals and enmity on all sides was pervasive, turning friend against friend. My relationship to the Vajradhatu community after Rinpoche's death was already tentative because he had instructed me to leave and be on my own. The situation with the Regent pushed me out even further.

While many old friends invited me to come and give talks at local dharma centers, they usually received letters from the Vajradhatu administration warning them against letting me speak. It seemed I was regarded as some type of renegade, for reasons which were unclear to me. I just assumed it was spiritual politics, as usual. Happily, those warnings were ignored by many of the local administrators. Nevertheless, any move that I made toward becoming involved with Vajradhatu was seemingly repulsed. It was as if Trungpa Rinpoche's mandate for me to go out on my own continued to manifest.

He had asked me to write about how we worked together. After my daily work with the Cosbys, I would retire to the one-bedroom West Side apartment where I lived with my wife and son and I would sit in the corner scribbling into countless notebooks with mottled black-and-white covers. None of it made much sense.

Once, a friend and I were measuring a room for a new car­pet. Standing, I held the tape to my heart. My friend on the other end said, "This is the lineage," and I had an immediate vision of the lineage going back to the Buddha. What my friend had actually said was "This is the length." I had another friend who went to consult a famous psychic, and as she was leaving, the psychic said to her offhandedly, "Oh, by the way, Celtic Buddhism is the right thing to do. People will think it strange at first, but it will last a thousand years."

Even with the felt presence of Trungpa Rinpoche and these continual visual and mental reminders of Celtic Buddhism, I stubbornly refused to do anything for many years. I didn't know how to start or even if I wanted to start. Even considering what to do about Celtic Buddhism became completely irritating. Once, in a fit of rage I threw a vase against the wall saying, "I refuse to do this until I have received certain signs." Within a week I received all the signs I had requested. The problem was that I felt that only people like Tilopa, Naropa, or Marpa start lineages, not an idiot like me who had little intellectual understanding of the dharma. Most of the time I couldn't remember whether there were three noble truths or four noble truths.

In 1989 I made a small attempt and registered the name Celtic Buddhism as a nonprofit organization. Then I didn't do anything for months. After a few more years I rented a room in an old office building, set up a shrine, and advertised with handout leaflets naming myself as the Venerable Seonaidh, which is Gaelic for Johnny. For several months I sat alone in the shrine room, and gradually people began to trickle in.

I gave a talk at the first Buddhist Conference in America. I found myself talking about Trungpa Rinpoche because I didn't know anything about Celtic Buddhism. Here I met the Zen Master Kobutsu, alias Kevin Malone. I made him a Celtic Buddhist lineage holder, hoping to dump the load on someone else. It didn't quite work out that way, as all he did was to encourage me to fulfill my reluctant mission.

Then I began to meet people who were actually interested in the Celtic aspect and its relationship to Buddhism. I began to give dharma talks based on the work of Trungpa Rinpoche. Together with my students, we relived the happenings and the teachings that Trungpa Rinpoche and I had experienced. In the beginning the aloneness was awesome, made poignant by loving relationships with students who I actually considered to be companions on the path to liberation.

Slowly, Celtic Buddhism is being established. For me it means rethinking everything that had occurred during my years with Rinpoche and all he had taught me. Every small detail has had to be examined and reexperienced precisely. There has been quite a lot of skepticism and opposition from traditional Tibetan Buddhist groups to the development of a new lineage. But when they were asked, some realized Buddhist teachers began to help, mostly by saying, "You were with Trungpa Rinpoche long enough; you should know what to do."

The technicalities of teaching -- all ceremonial aspects -- have been easy. What I lacked for a long time was the confidence to accomplish what my teacher and I had worked on together. But finally I have given up looking for confidence and just do it.

Because of my teachers -- Trungpa Rinpoche; His Holiness, Karmapa; and Khyentse Rinpoche -- I had a great attachment to Tibetan Buddhism. Because of my duty to Celtic Buddhism I had to give up my attachments. This was quite a painful process, which took many years to accomplish.

At the time of writing this book I have a small group of companions in this endeavor, most of whom I have now spent several years with. We are on the threshold of expansion. Together we have learned quite a bit concerning Celtic Buddhism. I consistently work with my recollections of Rinpoche's teaching and my experience with him in defining Buddhism and its relationship to the Celtic Buddhist mandala. We have started a center, the AnaDaire Celtic Buddhist Center, and plan to further our study and practice of Buddhism and its relatedness to Celticism and how the two could combine to help all sentient beings achieve enlightenment.

In the study of Buddhist dharma, our basis is the Prajnaparamita Sutra (the Heart of Sutra.) We always come back to Prajnaparamita. If one were to choose one practice and study it, the Prajnaparamita would be that practice. Other meditation practices we are involved in are shamatha vipashyana, tonglen, Vajrayana Deity Yoga, Chod, and Dzogchen.

In the Celticness we find a great field of shamanistic practices. We are working with these -- using dream, intuition, auspicious coincidence, and information of experiences where Buddhism was intermixed with local religious traditions.

In some sense we always have to go back to square one in our relationship to Buddhism or Celticness. Rinpoche always said to me, "Keep it simple." I always endeavor to do that while at he same time allowing my companions a large field of exploration for their personal experiences. In this lineage, personal path or individuality of personal path intermix with that of the sangha. Sometimes people are impatient with other peoples eccentricities on the path of enlightenment. Rinpoche continually used our eccentricities to point out the intolerance of others. At this stage our group is quite homogeneous, but when expansion occurs, problems will arise and one will have to relate to one's practice of meditation and heart of compassion.

We are called the Crazy Heart lineage of Celtic Buddhism -- "Crazy," because from the aspects of nonduality a person. might appear crazy to a logical mind. This would be rather like the reaction you might have if a flower started to speak to you. You would either think you were crazy or it was crazy. "Heart" is the connection with the lineage, which are the Buddhas and bodhisattvas (or enlightened beings) who have preceded us, are with us in the present, and will appear in the future. We are "Celtic," because our relationship to the experience of being alive was transformed into mythology, dream, art, science, history, literature, and spirituality as an essence that came to be known as Celtic, another cultural aspect that is interrelated with other groups of beings and their expression -- such as Tibetan, African, or Asian. "Buddhism," is because we are followers of the teachings of the Buddhas.

Personally, I have no fixed or clear idea about how Celtic Buddhism will finally manifest. My own personal feelings are that it should take a long time to form itself and then, I hope that having formed itself, it should benefit beings rather than become an inhibitor to their exploration of the universe. In other words, it should become the umbrella as well as the rain itself.

Rinpoche: "Johnny, have you ever been to Iona?"

Johnny: "Iona! You mean the island in Scotland? No, Sir."

Rinpoche: "You should go there after I die."

Johnny (alarmed): "You are not going to die!"

Rinpoche (reassuringly): "No, of course not; we will grow old together. Perhaps sometime you could go to Iona and read the Sadhana of Mahamudra in the cathedral."

Johnny: "Why?"

Rinpoche: "The air is very clear there. You will like it."

Johnny: "Okay, Sir. I'll do it."

Rinpoche: "Great! Let's drink to that."

They both drank sake.

In the summer of 2002 Johnny read the Sadhana of Mahamudra in the cathedral watchtower next to Saint Columba's shrine on the island of Iona. I realized again: Rinpoche manifested as Saint Columba and Johnny as Diarmait, his servant.

Image

Iona is an island in Scotland. It is 3.5 miles long and 1.5 miles across.

Image
Iona Abbey

The island only has two major settlements, Baile Mor and the Iona Community. There are about 170 permanent residents, but 500,000 visitors each year.

Image
Ferry at the slipway

The monastic community on Iona was founded in 563AD by Colum Cille (St. Columba) from Ireland, who was driven out of his homeland, Ireland, in the 6th c. and settled on the Isle of Iona, with his monks; the nearest point to Ireland from which he could not see his homeland. This was the home of Celtic Christianity for six hundred years until King David suppressed Celtic Christianity in the twelfth century. Iona remained a major pilgrimage site until the reformation when the island was sacked and the community scattered. In the early twentieth century, the abbey was rebuilt and a new monastic community has begun here, providing much of the tourism for the island.

Image
ancient cross in the churchyard of the abbey.

-- Iona, by wikivoyage.org


History continued to repeat itself throughout the ages. The sound of that loving relationship would never end.

In the glorious display of all beings,
stretching into the limitless universe,
never created, never ending.
From a billion suns,
which are the heart centers of all the buddhas,
resonates the sound of mantra. The gift of dharma,
given in total awareness,
love and compassion.
Seen in the fall of a leaf,
movement of grass,
crash of thunder,
unexplained flight of monarchs,
eyes of dragonfly,
foot of ant.
Through ignorance, anger, possessiveness, fear,
illusionary obstacles of all kinds,
simplicity of what was experienced,
lineage of continuous endless compassion,
 illusion of self is realized. Union of samsara and nirvana manifests.
Inexplicably,
there is nothing to understand.
There is only
Prajnaparamita.
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Re: The Mahasiddha and His Idiot Servant, by John Riley Perk

Postby admin » Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:53 am

"Are these awards and appointments fact or fiction?" I asked.

"Both," he answered.

***

EDICT

In the name of the Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Rigden, his glorious Sakyong on earth, Dorje Dradul of Mukpo Dong, hereby installs YESHE TUNGPA, JOHN A. PERKS as KUSUNG DAPON Proclaimed and Sealed at The Kalapa Court, the Seat of the Kingdom of Shambhala, by the profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Sakyong Mukpopa, the glorious Dorje Dradul, in the year of the Earth Horse of the sixteenth Rapjung, the first month, the twenty-seventh day; March 5, 1978.

***

AWARD

In the name of the Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Rigden, his glorious Sakyong on earth, the Dharmaraja Dorje Dradul of Mukpo Dong, hereby awards YESHE TUNGPA, JOHN PERKS, O.L.K., M.M.M.H, THE KUSUNG DAPON for merit in the service of the Dorje Dradul's military THE IRON WHEEL OF THE KINGDOM OF SHAMBHALA Proclaimed and sealed at the Kalapa Court by the Heavenly-appointed Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Sakyong Mukpopa Dorje Dradul of the Kingdom of Shambhala, in the year of the Earth Sheep of the Sixteenth Rapjung, the first month, the first day: February 27, 1979.

***

THE KALAPA COURT
APPOINTMENT


In the name of the Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All Victorious Rigden, his glorious Sakyong on earth, the Dharmaraja Dorje Dradul of Mukpo Dong, hereby admits JOHN ANTHONY PERKS, O.L.K. for outstanding contribution to the Culture of the Kingdom of Shambhala THE ORDER OF ELEGANCE OF THE KINGDOM OF SHAMBHALA Proclaimed and sealed at the kalapa Court by the Heavenly-appointed Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Sakyong Mukpopa Dorje Dradul of the Kingdom of Shambhala, in the year of the Iron Monkey of the Sixteenth Rapjung, the first month, the first day: February 17, 1980

***

THE KALAPA COURT
PROCLAMATION


In the name of the Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Rigden, his glorious Sakyong on earth, the Dharmaraja Dorje Dradul of Mukpo Dong, hereby creates YESHE TUNGPA JOHN ANTHONY PERKS, O.L.K., O.E. WARRIOR of the Most Radiant and Perky ORDER OF THE LION OF KALAPA PROCLAIMED AND SEALED at The Kalapa Court by the Heavenly-Appointed Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victoriouis Sakyong Mukpopa Dorje Dradul of the Kingdom of Shambhala, in the year of the Iron Bird of the Sixteenth Rapjung, the first month, the first day, February 5, 1981

***

THE KALAPA COURT
APPOINTMENT


In the name of the Profound Brilliant Justs Powerful All-Victorious Rigden, his glorious Sakyong on earth, the Dharmaraja Dorje Dradul of Mukpo Dong, hereby appoints YESHE TUNGPA, JOHN A. PERKS, O.L.K., O.E. to the office of CHAMBERLAIN PROCLAIMED AND SEALED at The Kalapa Court by the Heavenly-Appointed Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Sakyong Mukpopa Dorje Dradul of the Kingdom of Shambhala, in the year of the Iron Bird of the Sixteenth Rapjung, the first month, the first day: February 5, 1981.

***

THE KALAPA COURT

Bonnie Johnny Forever Meeting with you is a test of one's gallantry Meeting with you is so tempting That I want to grow old with you. So we could be strong together. Discovering such a bonnie Johnny Is equal to meeting living basic goodness. It is one of the best treasures that the Mukpo family discovered. We would like to welcome you as part of our family Please join and stay with us As the Chamberlain, the Kusung Dapon Or for that matter, just basic bonnie Johnny. May the Rigden Fathers protect you. Happy Birthday. Our love and affection to you on this occasion And for many years to come.

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
March 13, 1981  

***

DORJE KASUNG
APPOINTMENT


In the name of the Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Rigden, his glorious Sakyong on earth, the Makkyi Rapjam Dorje Dradul of Mukpo Dong, hereby commends SIR JOHN A. PERKS for exemplary loyal service and historic contribution in the office of first Kusung Dapon of the Dorje Kasung of the Kingdom of Shambhala and hereby appoints him to the office of TSOMAK DAPON, COMMODORE Of the Purnachandra Division of the Dorje Kasung of the Kingdom of Shambhala PROCLAIMED AND SEALED at The Kalapa Court by the Heavenly-Appointed Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Sakyong Mukpopa Dorje Dradul of the Kingdom of Shabhala, in the year of the Water Dog of the Sixteenth Rapjung, the first month, the first day: February 24, 1982.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he spent much of his time at sea on his personal fleet of ships as "Commodore" of the Sea Organization, an elite, paramilitary group of Scientologists.[8][9] Some ex-members and scholars have described the Sea Org as a totalitarian organization marked by intensive surveillance and a lack of freedom.[10] His expedition came to an end when Britain, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Venezuela all closed their ports to his fleet. -- L. Ron Hubbard, by Wikipedia


***

THE KALAPA COURT
APPOINTMENT


In the name of the Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Rigden, his glorious Sakyong on earth, the Dharmaraja Dorje Dradul of Mukpo Dong, hereby designates SIR JOHN A. PERKS, THE KUSHAP KYI KHYAP for very devoted and outrageous service to The Kalapa Court GARUDA OF KALAPA PROCLAIMED AND SEALED at The Kalapa Court by the Heavenly-Appointed Profound Brilliant Just Powerful All-Victorious Sakyong Mukpopa Dorje Dradul of the Kingdom of Shambhala, in the year of the Water Dog of the Sixteenth Rapjung, the first month, the first day: February 24, 1982.  
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Re: The Mahasiddha and His Idiot Servant, by John Riley Perk

Postby admin » Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:53 am

About the Author:

John Riley Perks, born in 1934, experienced in early childhood the bombing of England during World War II, which is written about in the manuscript. He went to university in England and immigrated to America in 1950. He started a commune and school in the Adirondacks which has been written about in the book Pagan Time by Micah Perks, published by Counterpoint in 2001. He met Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1973 and became his butler, attendant, and personal secretary for seven years. After this he became a butler for Bill Cosby for five years, Senator Jay Rockefeller for one year, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Acker for five years, and Mrs. Harris Farnstock [Fahnestock] for three years. Presently he is a Buddhist teacher at the AnaDaire Buddhist Center in Vermont and is currently writing a new book about Celtic Buddhism. John Riley Perks is married, has eight children, and lives in a cottage by the sea in Vermont.  
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